The Night Will Always Win
by Engine
Summary: Tony never meant to hurt Pepper, but the unwelcome thoughts have been keeping him from sleeping, and something had to be done about it. Bruce/Tony
1. Insomnia

It was creeping past the early hours of the morning, yet Tony Stark still couldn't manage to get to sleep. Usually he could on his king-sized bed perfectly tailored to his preferences - naturally you can get these things when you're a genius billionaire - but apparently sleep was one thing he couldn't get whenever he wanted.

He turned to check his bedside clock. 3:19am. How long had he been lying there, just stewing in his own thoughts? He _needed_ some rest. He was going to some fundraiser thing the next day that he didn't care all that much about. Pepper's idea. Tony had silently assumed that her interest in all these charity dos was just an excuse to wear fancy dresses. He decided against voicing this opinion, though. Pepper could pack a punch when she wanted. Understandably, that was one of the many things he liked about her. At least, he sometimes did.

Tony took another look at the clock. 3:19am? The minutes seemed to be turning into hours.

His eyes drifted over to the silhouette soundly sleeping next to him. He could feel his heart getting heavier just looking at her. The ever-capable and ever-present Pepper Potts. She was there when no one else was, she put up with him when no one else would, and she loved him when no one else did. It wasn't without an ache that he could relatively faintly remember how he felt when they started to go out with each other properly. He was almost sure he did love her still, there was no doubt in his mind that he cared for her more than he had any woman. But, he couldn't avoid it anymore. There was someone else, and while he would never ever want to hurt Pepper in any way, he didn't want to ignore this definite part of him. Ignoring himself just wasn't in his character. Ignoring other people, sure, but never himself. He liked himself too much.

He again shifted his position, this time to lie on his back. He stared at the ceiling, though barely visible in the dark room, struggling to empty his mind.

His mind didn't feel like cooperating.

It insisted on alternating between thoughts of the woman lying next to him, and the one responsible for this sleep deprivation. Tony let out a sigh. He really wasn't in the mood for his thoughts to take him on a journey of love and self-discovery. He just wanted to _sleep_. And it was all because of him that he couldn't.

He had felt _funny_ about him since they first met, but it wasn't until Tony had made the myopic decision that Dr. Bruce Banner should stay with him that the sleepless nights began. At the beginning of it all, he occasionally caught unconscious thoughts of the doctor going through his mind, but he put it down to him being a fan of his work, and bigger fan of the way he loses control and turns into an enormous green rage monster. Though, at the moment, he wasn't so sure of that theory.

Tony suddenly swung himself out of bed, bored of his failed attempts and his contemplations. He tiptoed out of the room, closing the door gently behind him, and made his way to the kitchen. At least, he tried to, until he was stopped by the bathroom door flying open into his face.

"Tony!" Bruce exclaimed. "Sorry! I didn't know-"

"Oh fuck, that hurt!" Tony declared in a loud whisper.

"Sorry!" Bruce repeated, lowering his voice when he remembered that Pepper was most likely sleeping just down the hallway. "Are you alright?"

Tony stifled a laugh. "It wasn't as forceful as it could've been. You're losing your touch, Hulk."

Bruce grimaced. He didn't exactly like to be referred to directly as the other guy, but he took it in his stride. It was Tony, after all.

"Do you want a drink?" Tony suggested casually, beginning to walk in the direction of the kitchen.

"It's after three in the morning, Tony," Bruce noted, as if it would make a difference.

"And?"

Bruce sighed and followed after him. There was no point in fighting a losing battle. If Tony Stark wanted a drink so early/late in the day, Tony Stark was going to get it.

When Bruce had reached the kitchen, Tony was already in the process of making drinks. Bruce took a seat at the counter, preparing to consume whatever he was going to throw his way.

"Margaritas okay?"

"I feel I can't say no at this point."

"Correct!"

* * *

Much later on in the morning, both Bruce and Tony had ended up basically slouched over the counter top talking absolute shit. They had a few various alcoholic beverages too many, and by this time neither of them cared about trivial matters like the ridiculous hour at which they happened to be up at. They would much rather chat idly about science.

"You said you weren't going to have much." Tony said, smiling like an idiot.

"I suppose the night won me over." Bruce responded. "Honestly... If I went back to bed after just the one... Well, I haven't been able to sleep lately."

Tony watched him with bewilderment. Trouble sleeping? Perhaps it was the same trouble he was having... If only...

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tony asked, his voice sounding uncharacteristically anxious.

Bruce glanced at Tony, flashing a small smile at him. "Thanks, but no, I'd rather not."

"You can tell me if something's on your mind," Tony said. "You can trust me."

He put his arm around Bruce in an attempt to give him a reassuring hug. Bruce unconsciously moved closer into the other man, his drunkenness blurring his boundaries. Tony, taking his chances, snuggled into Bruce as much as the other would allow. He didn't seem to react. Tony gently moved his hand from Bruce's shoulder to the nape of his neck. He looked up in confusion at his friend's sudden closeness, only for their eyes to meet for what felt for each of them to be too long for friends to look at each other in such a way. Tony moved his face slowly nearer to Bruce's. With his breath hot on his face and his lips so close to his own, Tony could feel his cheeks flush pink. He had never thought he would do this, never thought he would ever make it this far. Unexpectedly to him, Bruce was, too, inching in closer and closer until there was only the smallest capacity left to bridge. Tony's eyes fell closed in anticipation of the impending kiss. Suddenly, Bruce pulled himself back and almost jumped off of the chair.

"I, um, think I should get to sleep now," he mumbled. "Goodnight, Tony."

Tony wordlessly watched him leave.

He didn't go to bed. He didn't leave the bar. What's the point? There wasn't a hope of him getting any sleep now.

* * *

_to be continued_


	2. Losing Control

Tony lifted his head from the bar. He groaned and looked around, a dull pain working away in his head. What exactly had happened last night? It was currently hard for him to discern his dreams from drunken reality. He remembered getting close to Bruce. That part wasn't just his imagination, surely. His feelings at the time were certainly real. Feelings of bliss, and a slight-but-definite fear of that bliss.

A soft sigh escaped his lips. The night came flooding back to him. He would have face him sooner or later, right?

* * *

Bruce looked up from his papers, slightly alarmed at the intrusion, but smiled weakly when he realised it was Tony.

"I thought you were going with Pepper...?"

Tony shrugged and walked over to the bed, patting and smoothing it absently before diving onto it. Bruce eyed him with an unimpressed look from the desk.

"I was exhausted," he half-sighed. "We stayed up pretty late, if you can recall."

Bruce cleared his throat. He certainly _could_ recall. He'd been dreading talking about the previous night to the point that he was concocting plans to avoid the man for a couple of days until they had both forgotten, and yet, he was there in his borrowed room and there was no escaping it.

"Ah... yeah."

He adjusted his glasses nervously. He didn't know what else to say.

Tony looked over at Bruce, noticing his discomfort. He wasn't sure how his advance on him would register, seeing as they were both drunk and more comfortable in each other's presence than they had ever allowed when sober. The sensible part of him had hoped that he wouldn't remember, but another part of him wished that he did and that he would reciprocate now, and that part was currently screaming louder than that sensible voice could.

_Wait. No. Don't think about him like that. At least not while he's right fucking there!_

Tony tried to empty his mind of all thoughts of the doctor, and it was going well for a few seconds until he caught his eye for a brief moment and he was sure he could see a blush surface on his cheeks as he did so. Bruce quickly shifted his vision back onto the words pages. He unmindfully shuffled the pages around, trying to make it look like he was too busy to pay attention. He could still feel Tony's gaze on him.

Tony got up and hovered behind the desk, next to Bruce.

"What're you reading?"

"Oh, uh, it's-"

"Bruce, it's upside down."

Bruce realised that it was, indeed, upside down. One of them must have been the wrong way around when he was flicking through and he just so happened to stop on it. _Great__._ He flushed red, mentally kicking himself for letting Tony catch him out. He sat back, arms crossed. Tony grinned widely at him, sliding onto the desk in front of him. Bruce looked up hesitantly. He wished he would say something, anything, to break the tension.

"Did you want to?"

Anything except that.

"W-what do you mean?" Bruce spluttered.

Tony sat up. He wasn't going to dodge the subject anymore. If he wanted it, he might as well come out and say it, or stop wanting it, and he was damn sure by now that he couldn't stop wanting Bruce.

"Did you want to kiss me?" he asked in an almost playful tone, though they both knew it was in all-seriousness.

"I-i..." Bruce tried to answer, but he didn't know what his answer was. His hands were getting sweaty and his heart was beating faster than normal. He stroked the nape of his neck.

Tony waited. Though he thought Bruce was absolutely adorable when he was flustered, he couldn't hear his answer soon enough. He knew that their friendship hung in the balance with that one question, and with Bruce's tendency to disappear when faced with problems, he realised that if he messed this up he might not get to see him again. Not anytime soon, anyway.

"You can't do that to Pepper," Bruce finally managed to say. "Why would you want to risk your relationship with her? For me? I'm not worth it."

Tony leaned forward, looking down at the doctor from his perch, staring directly into his eyes. Bruce had never seen such a serious look in his eyes before. Usually he took everything as a joke. He wished that this was a joke, it was unbearable.

"I don't want to do _anything_ that would hurt Pepper," Tony said. "But..."

Tony paused to search for the the right words.

"Bruce, I don't know what I feel for you or why, all I know is that I can't stop thinking about you and it's driving me fucking crazy."

The doctor's eyes became wide and all attempts at speech failed. Mr. Tony Stark, genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, with a beautiful woman and everything he could ever want, would risk so much for him, a reclusive scientist with a rage problem. He was nothing special. Yet, the man was leaning in to kiss him, and he found himself doing the same.

Their lips met briefly at first, just brushing against each other. Tony kissed him again, sweetly and timidly. Bruce couldn't help but give in. He was automatically easing into the kiss, snaking his arms behind Tony's neck. Tony wrapped his arms around him and guided him up off of his seat. He placed a hand on the side of his face and the other between his neck and shoulder. As it went on, their nerves seemed to fade away and all that was left was desperation. Tony began to lick Bruce's bottom lip lightly, asking for entrance. Bruce let him in without protest. His fingers travelled into Tony's hair and he clutched at it helplessly. He was most definitely grabbing hard enough to hurt him, but he didn't seem to notice over the rapid thoughts of _his tongue is in my fucking mouth_ and such like it.

Tony pushed him up against the wall, kissing him deeper, letting his hands roam slowly down his body. Bruce momentarily lost the function of breathing as the kiss intensified. He could feel Tony smile, before his lips left his and went to hover next to his ear.

"Breathe, Banner," he hissed in his ear.

Bruce giggled quietly. "I'm sor-"

"Don't apologise," Tony said, almost automatically. "You don't have to be so mild-mannered all the time."

Tony leaned back to look in his eyes. Bruce unconsciously tightened the grip he had on Tony's hair at his gaze. Tony wasn't completely sure why he had stopped doing something he had been dreaming of since he met his friend to lecture him, but he did know that what he said was true. He really did wish that Bruce would stop living on the edge of his life. He saw him as too precious to waste.

"You should do what you want," Tony whispered, placing his forehead on his. "Stop tiptoeing. Stop hiding. You deserve it."

Bruce bit his lip, staring into the other's eyes. "I don't want to lose control, Tony. I let you get me drunk. I let you kiss me."

"Then what do you want?"

He jolted his head forward to meet Tony's lips again. Somehow - Tony didn't know or _care _how - his back was suddenly against the wall instead. His hands settled on the doctor's hips. It seemed he was in control now. Tony found he liked being dominated in the kiss more than he had expected. Or maybe it was Bruce that he liked. Right now he didn't feel the need to differentiate.

* * *

"Tony, are you there? I left my phone-"

Pepper stopped dead in her tracks at the open door of the bedroom. She couldn't believe the sight before her. Not that she had never thought about him cheating on her. He had a history of infidelity. She had sometimes had nightmares of finding Tony with some dumb, blonde model-to-be, desperate to get into a millionaire's bed, and those were bad enough, but this was just downright cruel. This wasn't a disposable harlot. It was Bruce Banner. The kind, good-hearted doctor. His intellectual equal. Someone she knew Tony couldn't just have a one-night thing with. She knew it was more than that.

She noticed how he acted around him before this, but she had thought nothing of it, and now, watching her Tony kiss and being kissed by someone else like _that_, she realised how obvious it was.

Pepper turned on her heels and walked away, trying to keep the tears from falling and trying to keep from looking back.


End file.
